


Close As Strangers

by pansiesforthoughts



Series: pansiesforthoughts- February Ficlet Challenge 2020 [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, a bit sad :(, set during the lost hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23426242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pansiesforthoughts/pseuds/pansiesforthoughts
Summary: Written for the February Ficlet Challenge prompt 24: Huddling for warmth. (Honestly kinda forgot about the prompt a bit)Piper laments how quickly her happy life at the Wilderness School disappeared. How do you make someone bring back memories they never had in the first place?
Relationships: Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Series: pansiesforthoughts- February Ficlet Challenge 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621819
Kudos: 5
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	Close As Strangers

Piper shuffled over to where Jason sat huddled against the wall.

“Hey,” she tried to smile but her face was essentially frozen at this point.

“Hi, Piper.” Jason glanced at her but then looked away. Piper could still feel how awkward they were together, and she hated it. Why couldn’t everything be the way it was in the summer? She remembered how well they got along, how close they were. Her, Jason, and Leo. They were inseparable. Piper didn’t want to believe that the happiest time of her life was only a dream constructed by Hera.

She had always been distant from her family, her father was too busy to notice her and her mum, well, being the daughter of a god had its perks. Ever seeing her mother was not one of them. Of course, Aphrodite was too busy for her, Piper was not affected, it was the same thing she had endured for years with her father.

When she was forced to go to The Wilderness School for the summer she was honestly ecstatic, no more lying around at home, waiting for her dad to finally have time to spend with her. Of course, the reason she was going was her stealing problem but she didn’t mind, finally, she could spend her holidays with people her age, and not her dad’s personal assistant.

She’d met Jason and Leo on the first day, they seemed such good friends already and she had almost felt left out, but Jason was always so kind to her, he made her feel part of their group. The two of them grew closer, Leo would joke that he was the odd one out now. Piper loved Jason, she knew him. When he kissed her on the rooftop she felt nothing could ever go wrong in the world. Until it did.

And now they were here, little more than strangers. They were trying to get along, both of them, but it was hard to cover up the fact, hard to move on when their entire relationship was never real. Piper wished it wasn’t so hard, after all, she remembered every moment so vividly, she felt she was his, but it turned out Jason didn’t even know her before he woke up on the bus. It was terrible, Piper wished she could make him remember, but how do you make someone bring back memories they never had in the first place?

Piper sat down next to Jason. He was facing away from her, so she took the opportunity to stare at his perfect face, one that she knew so well. A rough wind blew past, biting and icy. Piper pulled her jacket tighter around herself.

“Are you cold?” asked Jason.

“It’s  _ freezing _ . How are you not shivering?”

Jason shrugged. “I don’t know. You can have my jumper if you want.”

Piper bit back tears. He was so like the old Jason, even if it felt as though he was a completely different person, which in a way he was.

Jason handed her his jumper. “Piper?”

She looked up, trying to make her face neutral. “Yes?”

“We can still try to be friends, right? Even though what has happened is… strange?”

“Yeah,” said Piper in a small voice. “Friends.”


End file.
